Muscle Building Techniques

"Hi. Here is my problem: whatever I eat and whatever I do I can't seem to gain any weight. People tell me my metabolism must be going too fast. I have even taken some weight-gaining tablets and drinks, but they don't help. I have just started some body building, which might help, but I doubt it.

To give you an idea of my body frame I'm a male, 22, 5'10", and weigh only 125 pounds. I really hate this problem of being underweight! So my questions are:

1. Is my metabolism going too fast?
2. If it is, when will it slow down?
3. Do you have any advice that will help me gain at least ten pounds?

David, Dallas"

You will agree with me, David, that yours is a problem two-thirds of North Americans would love to “suffer”. I know that this idea doesn’t much comfort. I've read about the fast metabolism theme for years, and I have been able to discover this concept it’s absolutely nonsense! Yes you have read well this concept it’s totally CRAP. The reason is simple; You can research hundreds of medical studies and find out that differences in basal metabolic rate (a measure of the rate at which the body burns energy while at rest) per unit of body weight among healthy individuals of the same sex are relatively minor. If you find perceivable differences, those are generally accounted for by some disorder like hyperthyroidism. If you have any suspicions in this regard, see a doctor.

If hyperthyroidism it’s not the cause of your low body weight, you may have poor eating habits or an excessively frantic lifestyle (stress tends to increase the metabolic rate and body secretes more cortisol in stressing situations) I've heard other explanations for chronic thinness, but they all sound pretty dubious. For instance, one of my closest friends, who is a doctor once told me that body weight is related to the length of your small intestine, the longer it is, supposedly, the more food you absorb.

Maybe we must apply the occam’s razor here. Occam's razor is a principle attributed William of Ockham, a 14th-century English logician. Occam's razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible. In short, when given two equally valid explanations for a phenomenon, one should embrace the less complicated formulation.

Maybe the people who have a hard time gaining weight (what we refer to as ectomorphs) simply have fewer muscle and fat cells to absorb the extra bulk than more athletic types. Fortunately, tests have shown that high intensity weight training can add new muscle cells, a process called hyperplasia. This is a lot more work than simply strengthening existing muscle cells, admittedly, but you can take some comfort in the fact that the new muscle cells stay with you all your life, even if you knock off weight training later on.

What you need is a systematic weight gain program: eating (lots of carbohydrates, a fair amount of protein, no junk) plus weight lifting, with an emphasis on upper body exercises (six to eight repetitions per exercise with heavy weights. Increase the weight as soon as you can do more than eight reps).

Patience and perseverance is advised!

Labels: fast metabolism, muscle gain, underweight, weight gain